Asahi Reporter Killed in Gun Attack 32 Years Ago Remembered

Nishinomiya, Hyogo Pref., May 3 (Jiji Press)--A reporter of the Asahi Shimbun major Japanese daily who was killed in a gun attack in 1987 was remembered on Friday, which marked the 32nd anniversary of the crime.

People came to the newspaper publisher's Hanshin bureau in the city of Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, where the incident occurred, to pay tribute to the victim, Tomohiro Kojiri.

On the night of May 3, 1987, a balaclava-wearing man fired a shotgun at Kojiri, 29, and another Asahi Shimbun journalist, Hyoe Inukai, at the Hanshin bureau. Kojiri died in the bloody attack.

Inukai survived, but suffered serious injuries. He died in January last year at the age of 73.

"I don't want the incident to be forgotten," said a housewife in her 60s from the western city of Osaka who visited the bureau on Friday. "It is regrettable that the statute of limitations has expired for the crime," she said.